


DanganTG: Hope and Despair

by plague126



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Destroy the Godmodder - Fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 21:31:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20442851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plague126/pseuds/plague126
Summary: 25 students of Hope’s Peak academy are thrust into a killing game, not remembering how they got there, not even remembering their names. And it seems like murder awaits...





	DanganTG: Hope and Despair

Greatness.

Whether you’re born with it, or achieve it, it’s a trait, universally desired. One we all hope to eventually reach.

And now, standing in front of the prestigious Hope’s Peak Academy, a place where only the very top elite students are able to attend, I can’t help but feel I’m on the path to reaching that goal of mine.

Hope’s Peak Academy, the school everyone works hard to get scouted for. It’s churned out so many successful students. And to think that I might be among them is exhilarating. 

I am the Ultimate Hypnotist and  m y n a m e  i s 

  
  


__________________________________________________________________________

_". . .__h__e__y__. __.__ ._ _u__p. . . __wake up… _wake up!"

I'm quickly jolted awake as an unfamiliar voice calls to me, gently shaking my chest. I scramble to my feet, quickly looking around. 

_ What is this place? A hotel room? Where the hell am I?  _

My panic seems to have startled the man in front of me, wearing some… strangely familiar uniform. Looking around the room, I notice several other people, many confused and dazed. 

_They're all… dressed in the Hope's Peak uniforms!_ _What's going on here…_

My attempt to begin to make sense of the situation is brought to a halt before it can begin, as the man in front of me sighs in relief, a small smile returning to his face. 

"Good, you're okay...” he remarks, rubbing his temple. "That should be the last one… do you feel any pain?" 

_ The last one? What's that meant to mean?  _ I slowly shake my head. Nothing seems wrong with me, aside from the heavy pounding of my heart, racing almost as quickly as my mind. Seizing the opportunity, I decided to ask about the uniform.

"Hope's Peak… you're a Hope's Peak student, aren't you?" He nods.

“We all are.” Calls a female voice. I spin around, my eyes falling onto the girl who'd spoken, currently holding a thick book. 

The girl sighs, her expression shifting from slightly nervous to… a little less nervous. "Not going to lie… Pope and I were worried you wouldn't wake up."  _ . _

_ ...Pope? What is she talking about? _

“I believe this means everyone's awake...” states a rather serious voice from off to the side. 

_ Everyone's awake…  _ The words echo over and over in my head as I begin to form some idea of what's going on.

_ Hope's Peak. All of us are from Hope's Peak. The uniforms, and what the girl said… that bit makes sense. And both the guy who woke me, and the other person talked about being the last one awake… people seemed confused… I think I've got it. I am a Hope's Peak student, as is everyone here. All of us have woken up together in this room, and none of us are sure where we are. This, I'm certain of. If I look around, I'm… I'm sure I can figure out what we're doing here. _

As I finish making sense of my scenario, I realize I've been staring blankly at the girl with the book from earlier. Figuring I just zoned out, I briefly apologize to her. She smiles faintly, brushing her light brown hair from her face.

"Hey, no worries. You looked like you were trying to figure something out, so I kinda just let you do your thing." She explains.

"Yeah… I at least have a grasp on the situation. Or well, as much of a grasp as I can in this scenario. I still don’t really understand what’s happening...wait, I haven’t even introduced myself yet!” I said, perhaps having accidentally thought that last part out loud. “My name is...it’s…my name…I can’t remember it.” 

Try as I might, nothing is coming to me. The harder I try, the more spotty my memory gets. I try to recall other facts. Some things come to me, like Hope’s Peak, basic education, and everything related to my talent, but by far those are the clearest things I can recall.Everything else doesn’t seem lost. Just… muddied.

“So you’re in the same boat as me, it seems.” said the girl.

“Wait, you can’t remember your name either?” I asked.

“Yeah, it seems like that’s the case for everyone here. All we can remember when we think of our names is just a word.”

**“** Huh. Alright. Lemme think…” I think of my name… and a name pops out. 

Crystal. 

“I guess… my name is Crystal, and I am the Ultimate Hypnotist.” I said.

“Huh. That’s an interesting talent!” said the girl. ”I’m Toast.”

As we chatted a little bit about our talents, we were greeted by the man Toast had mentioned when i woke up. “Greetings! I am the Ultimate Priest! And this may sound redundant, but call me Pope!” 

“Nice to meet you! My name is Crystal. I’m the Ultimate Hypnotist.” I responded.

“Woah, Hypnotist? That’s a cool talent bud!” said Pope

“Aw, thank you!” I said.

My new friend took my place after we shook hands. “And I’m Toast, Ultimate Fantasy Writer!”

  
Pope smiled broadly. “Well, that’s a fantastic past-time. Used to be the only thing I could really enjoy until my hearing got fixed.”

“Wait, how do you know that?” Toast questioned immediately, eyes growing sharp and inquisitive.   
  
“Oh - well,” The Ultimate Priest frowned for a second before tapping his ear - which upon closer inspection turned out to be a prothstetic one! ”Yeah, these. Plus a few feelings and… divine inspiration.”

I furrowed my brow in thought, but to be honest I really had nothing to argue with that. Soon, Toast and Pope got embroiled in a discussion about the nature of divinity and from how heated it got, I decided to go and talk to someone- anyone else before I got roped in.

Going about this at random, I approached someone who immediately set me on edge. Something about how she held herself struck me as intimidating. Though there was a joking grin on her face and a twinkle in her eyes that made me want to try approaching anyway.   
  
“Um, hey there-”

“Hey! Who gave you the right to talk to me?” said the woman angrily, the grin quickly fading.

I stepped back at her loud declaration. However, just as quickly as it happened, the facade of anger gave way to laughter.    
  
“Just joking. Fran’s the name I remember. You?”   
  
“Uh… Crystal. Ultimate Hypnotist.”   
  
“Oho? Then are you the one? Who knocked us out?”   
  
I had to brace myself not to physically stumbled at the mood whiplash. She then chuckled again at my expense.    
  
“Just kidding! Just kidding. Only kidding in this unnerving hellhole,” Fran frowned, her eyes glazing a bit as began to repeat herself, but she soon snapped out of it. “Ultimate Script Writer, here, and with a talent like yours, it’d be easy to make this setup happen in a film.”   
  
I had to admit, she had a point. “Sadly, I seem to be as affected as everyone else. And I didn’t remember seeing anything that would act as the trigger for the initial Hypnosis.”   
  
“Well, there’s always other explanations, like chemicals and surgery! The mind is all too easily influenced by a sack of meat and chemicals, meat and chemicals. Meat and chemicals...” Fran grinned sharply, pushing back the obvious distress she was feeling when she sank into repeating herself. “But it was a pleasure to meet you, Crystal!”   
  
I nodded and moved on like everyone else, trying to see which of the many people mingling together I should talk to next. After all, it helped to have something normal like this to cling to in such unnerving circumstances. Or after meeting unnerving people.

I then noticed someone who, amongst the crowd of nervous energy, seemed unaffected by it. I approached him, hoping to learn his secret and dispel my own nervous energy.   
  
“Hi there, I’m Crystal!” I greeted with a bit more cheer than I felt, stretching out my hand.    
  
The guy just gave me a dull, uncaring look before reluctantly shaking it. After we were done, a moment of awkward silence passed before he finally replied.    
  
“Name’s Emerald. Or something like that.”   
  
“That’s cool!”   
  
Another moment of silence passed.   
  
“Umm…” Crystal searched for another conversation topic. “You seem rather calm about all of this.”   
  
Emerald’s face looked thoughtful for a brief moment. “Well, I mean, I WAS going to run around and scream like a complete moron for a few hours.”   
  
I felt the sarcasm ooze off his form with that one, but played along anyway. “Ah. What stopped you?”   
  
“Too exhausting,” He said with a smile as tired as he claimed to be.    
  
“Ah. I’ll leave you to your rest, then.”   
  
As I turned around, I heard him say “Thank you.” I responded with a curt nod in his direction before continuing.   
  


I saw someone who looked rather interesting, but seemed to be glaring in a certain direction. However, after a moment he relaxed just a little and noticed me approaching.    
  
“Well, it looks like I’m not needed after all. So, ready to do this meet and greet thing-”   
  
Abruptly, there were the sounds of a scuffle along with a shout that broke through the conversations. It came from the opposite direction. The man growled.    
  
“Spoke to soon...”   
  
And he left without another word. 

  
I frowned for a moment at being unable to introduce ourselves properly, but I suppose the fight breaking out did take precedence.   
  
“...wait a second.”   
  
I began trying to make my way to the commotion too, to see if I could stop it. Unconsciously, my hand reached into my pocket to grab something round when I felt a hand on my shoulder.   
  
“You don’t need to bother. It’s already too late anyway.”   
  
I turned to the voice. The first thing I noted was a soft regret in their eyes.   
  
“Huh?” I blurted.   
  
“It’s already over,” The stranger clarified. “Someone else broke up the fight.”   
  
I turned back, and sure enough the crowd had dispersed already. I felt a bit of relief.    
  
“Well, I suppose it was only inevitable, given how tense everything is,” I reasoned, trying to provide some comfort. 

However, those eyes only seemed to get sadder. “Yeah, but… honestly, I hate seeing people upset in the first place.”

“Yeah, me-”

“Unless they’re playing one of my games of course. THEN let the tears flow!” He said, smile trying to force its way past his obvious mood. “Just don’t complain to me about my games- I’ll fold like I got a two and a three in poker.”   
  
I imagine my expression was nonplussed at these shenanigans, which went unnoticed.   
  
He finally turned to look at me properly. “My name’s Ire. Ultimate Strategist.”   
  
“Crystal, Ultimate Hypnotist.”   
  
We stood there for a second, just taking each other’s words and company in. Then Ire ran a hand through his hair and turned away.   
  
“Anyway… see you around, Crystal.”   
  
“Same, Ire!”

As he left, I turned to find something, anything to cheer myself up. The stress was kinda getting to me.

  
The next encounter, however, sought me out instead. At least, that’s what I think happened. When I noticed the stares going straight past me, I turned to notice someone who had gone very, very still - and from the shaking it was with effort that they were even standing there at all.    
  
“Hello?”   
  
The person standing there went still and their eyes were sharp. I had seen that look on people in movies and in serious strategy games before, as they dissected every move they made before it happened and all of the moves made in response to those. It was a bit alarming, but I steeled myself and introduced myself.    
  
“Hi there. I’m Crystal, Ultimate Hypnotist.”   
  
The person stared at me for a few moments. Then, barely hearing it for myself, he whispered something.    
  
“Uh...” I smiled awkwardly. “Was that meant for me?”   
  
He stared back some more before sighing to himself.   
  
“Ultimate Shinobi.”   
  
“Oh, that’s neat. What about your-”   
  
I heard a sharp cracking sound and turned my head for a second. Once I saw that it was just someone with messy hair tripping over a potted plant, I turned back to the Ultimate Shinobi…   
  
Only to find they weren’t there. I looked about quickly, but I couldn’t see any place they might have been able to get to in such a short amount of time.Then again, given their title, it was only to be expected. 

I took another look about. It seemed that everyone was still doing the meet and greet. A few people had tried the doors, but apparently they were locked. Being trapped in here like this…    
  
I ignored the unnerved feeling by going up to the next person. They seemed a bit distracted, but otherwise doing nothing, so it seemed harmless enough.   
  
“Hi there, I’m Crystal! What’s your name?”   
  
The person looked at me for a second before turning away a bit. Not to be dissuaded, I walked in front of them.   
  
“Um, are you okay? I just wanted a name.”

  
The look on their face was unpleasant, but they studiously and diligently ignored me by looking at a potted plant. It wasn’t even an interesting plant.   
  
“...I’m the Ultimate Hypnotist!” I said, trying a different track, since the Ultimate Shinobi had trouble giving out their name. “What’s your-”   
  
“AC, Ultimate Debater, now get out of my face!”   
  
I just stood there in shock as the asshole rolled his eyes and scoffed, walking the other direction. I felt furious, and went to tell him off, when someone came up to me and shook her head.   
  
“Trust me, they’re not worth it,” She said with more than a bit of salt.    
  
I turned and-   
  
“OH GREAT Alfred Binet what happened to your face!?”   
  
She scratched the part of her face that WASN’T bruised. “Did you notice that fight earlier?”   
  
“That was y-”

“That was me.”   
  
I facepalmed, but I couldn’t help but smile at her sense of humor.   
  
“Well, might I ask who you are and who is the asshat that did this to you?”   
  
She had a proud smile on her face. “I’m Plague, the Ultimate Mathematician, and the reason I warned you about AC was because that’s who I fought.”   
  
I quizzically raised an eyebrow at their name. I wasn’t too sure but...   
  
“Plague as in...plague doctor?”   
  
Plague laughed nervously. “Yeah. A bit obvious. But I swear I’m the Ultimate Mathematician and NOT the Ultimate Plague Doctor.”   
  
“Okay then.” I wasn’t quite sure how to react to the name nor the reaction, but they seemed nice enough that I didn’t press anything.    
  
“Yeah. If anyone is capable of spreading disease around here, it’s me.”   
  
I turned to find a very… young looking boy in front of me. His hair was long and unkempt, and their uniform seemed to clash with the general vibe they seemed to carry. They also seemed strangely familiar.

  
Then it hit me.   
  
“Wait, did you trip over a plant earlier?”   
  
“Yeah, it wanted me to see its fall colors, but I had to insist that I woodn’t need to.”   
  
There was a moment’s silence before he spoke up again. “See, what did I tell ya earlier? A couple of jokes, and the entire room is struck mute!”   
  
Now that time, I couldn’t help but snort. He seemed to relax a little too, especially when Plague began giggling like a maniac. Nervously he stuck out his hand.   
  
“Alastair. Ultimate Comedian. I, uh… it takes me a while to do stand up comedy properly, but puns are always good at breaking the ice.”   
  
I smiled and shook his hand. “Crystal. Ultimate Hypnotist.”   
  
”Plague,” She introduced herself next as she took his hand from mine. “Ultimate Mathematician.”   
  
“Yikes! Talk about weapons of mass snoozing-” He laughed as he fended off a swat or two from Plague. “I kid! I kid! Sorry!”   
  
Plague turned away in a huff, but I could still see her smile. However, apparently, Alastair did not.   
  
“No, really, I’m sorry,” He said after an awkward pause. “I really am, I wasn’t thinking- ”   
  
Plague looked confused before rolling her eyes. “No, no it’s okay! I wasn’t really mad!”   
  
“You sure? Are you sure you aren’t just saying that to...” He trailed off for a second, as if searching for the right words to say.   
  
Plague reassured him after it was clear that he wasn’t finding those lost words anytime soon. “I’m not just saying that. You’re fine, really.”   
  
“Okay. Thank you. Sorry.” He smiled awkwardly. “I don’t exactly do well with improv.”   
  
It was at that moment that Plague looked over at something. She took a step forward to see whatever it was and-   
  
*Whump!*   
  
“Woah! Are you okay?” Alastair asked nervously as we helped Plague up.    
  
“Yeah, I’m fine!” Plague said, completely missing the large scratch on her forehead.    
  
Alastair paled. “No you’re not! Your head!”   
  
Plague dabbed it with her fingers to check.   
  
“It’s just a scratch, it’s no big deal-”   
  
“I’m sorry, but I think I see a First Aid kit over there! Please come with me!”   
  
Plague turned to me, as if silently asking me if it was as bad as he thought it was. From the looks of it…   
  
“Yeah, you probably should get that cleaned up just in case.”   
  
With a reluctant sigh, Plague and Alastair went off to bandage up the wound. I gave a sigh too. This was already very eventful, and the people here just seemed to be very… distinct in who they were.

I began to feel a bit better, but I still felt off kilter from everything that has been going on. I kinda wanted to destress, but everything was so strange and unfamiliar…   
  
I leapt a little when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Whirling around, I saw someone with a sheepish frown on their face and said hand retracting from my shoulder.    
  
“Ah, sorry about that. Guess I snuck up on you.”   
  
Seeing their calm, easygoing attitude, I relaxed a little. “I have been feeling a bit uptight with everything going on...”   
  
“Kinda why I’m here.” He chuckled lightly and extended his hand. “Wyvern, Ultimate Baker.”

I accepted it and introduced myself. He nodded, his grin never quite reaching a full smile, but getting the job done nonetheless. After a moment, I opened up about one of my concerns.   
  
“So… how are you feeling about this whole… plot against us.”

“Plot?” Wyvern raised an eyebrow. “I thought it was a prank.”

I shook my head. “How could it be a plot? They must have gone through a lot of effort to wipe everyone’s minds so thoroughly then drop us in a room like this!”   
  
“Well, how do you know it’d be a lot of effort? We don’t remember much that isn’t our ‘names’, titles, and some practical knowledge, right?” Wyvern said with more certainty then Crystal was expecting. “For all we know, we could be living in a time or a place where mind wiping like this is so easy, people do it for game shows.”   
  
I stopped and put my hand to my chin. I hadn’t really thought of that. There was so little information here, that anything was possible. It didn’t seem good, but really, there was little in the way of actually pointing us in any direction aside from maybe being related to Hope’s Peak.

I felt my shoulders relax. “That’s a really good point. Thanks Wyvern.”

He smiled a lot more widely than his normal demeanor suggested he did. That and with the relaxing of his shoulders… wow. He was a lot more worried than he let on about how I felt. I promptly dubbed him a cinnamon roll in my mind.   
  
“No problem. Sorry to leave, but I’m going to go and see if I can help anyone else. See you later.”   
  
And with a short wave, he walked off in a random direction while I remained with my thoughts for a moment. Things didn’t look good, but panicking did nothing for us, did it?    
  
As I turned to go somewhere else, my mind wandered to more pleasant thoughts, such as the fantasy that this was all a huge prank. It also began to wander into more constructive thoughts, such as reviewing what I knew. 

  
But when I saw someone point a gun at my face, though, all other thoughts fled from my mind other than the thought of ‘I’m going to die’. I saw a couple of people gasp from my peripheral vision, but it was unimportant. If I had any memories to flash before my eyes, they sure were taking their time in coming.    
  
I saw the hand squeeze the trigger before I could even speak. My eyes slammed shut, not wanting to face the inevitable. A couple of people screamed.    
  
*bop*

I opened my eyes when, instead of meeting my end, I felt something bounce off of my forehead harmlessly. On the ground was a small foam dart. In front of me, rolling his eyes hard enough to make MY eyes spin out of their sockets, was the guy showing off the apparently fake gun.    
  


I then rallied pointing a finger at him. “What the hell was that for!?”

“Why the hell did you freak out?” I blinked as the guy flicked the ‘gun’ to reveal it as a hollow fake before he continued. “Think it through for a second- We’re all tense and worked up over being in a strange room and our minds having been gutted like a thanksgiving day turkey. But right now we’re acting like everyone else is about to snap and start killing each other. There’s been FIGHTS for crying out loud.”

“I mean, you pointed a gun at my face!” I spluttered.    
  
“What reason did you have to think it was real?” He passed me the gun. “You panicked and ran with your first assumption. I admit I was aiming for that, but take a better look at this thing.”

I thought about it for a second and began to examine the ‘weapon’. Immediately 3 things popped out at me. One was that the seams were all sealed shut. Another was that it was a very dull shine that didn’t match metal at all. But the third almost made me kick myself.   
  
“It has an orange tip.”

The man scoffed. “Let this be a lesson not from the Ultimate Weapons Expert, but from TOG himself- get a grip. If we get so worked up when things are relatively calm, we’ll definitely miss the important stuff when the chips are down.”   
  
I decided, after he walked away, to take a break. My mood went from high to OHGODWHY to low within the course of a single encounter. And yet my mind was racing. I still had the fake gun, and I stared at it. The obvious had been right in front of me, and I knew that would bother me until I took TOG’s lesson to heart.

My feet lead me to the walls of the room while my mind was occupied, where only a couple of socially exhausted stragglers lingered and milled about. Then I heard the most uncanny voice - it sounded familiar, but it wasn’t until I processed what was said that I realized whose it was.

“Hi, my name’s Crystal! I’m greeting everyone in a peppy voice!”   
  
I blink hard enough I swear I heard my eyelids clap. My head whipped around to see a couple of goofy looking guys standing near a door. One of them was looking at me. The other…   
  
‘Wait, where did that guy get a crowbar? Wait, no, focus Crystal!’ I walk over to them, not sure if I should look offended or intrigued.    
  
“Oh gosh, look! Here he comes now!”   
  
Annoyed it was.   
  
“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask a bit more tersely than I meant to.    
  
The one not prying the door open rolled his eyes, then spoke in… Alastair’s voice? “Hey, chill out Crystal. I’m just having some fun with my talent.”   
  
My eyes widened like I had been slapped. Then they narrowed just as quickly.   
  
“You’re the one who was making fun of me!”

“Heh. Guilty as charged.” he said in what appeared to be his normal voice. “Name’s Pit. I’m the Ultimate Voice Actor. Nice to meetcha.”

  
I stared at him. “Why were you mocking me? Do you have something against me?”  
  
Pit laughed. “Nah, nothing iike that! When I see a joke, I go for it. Simple as that!”  
  
I glared. “Yes, but-”  
  
Pit held out a hand. “Look, let’s put that behind us! We can be friends!”  
  
I reluctantly shook his hand, then remembered something. “Hey, who was that guy you were with? Had a crowbar.. Just.. uh, went through the door.”  
  
Pit shrugged. “Oh, he went through that door you’re looking at.” Pit pointed at the pried-open door. “Said something about hearing a speech through it? Something something killing games something we’re all gonna die?”  
  
“_What_.”

  
“Anyway, the guy’s name is Piono, he’s the Ultimate Disrupt-”   
  
“WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE WHAT!?”   
  
“Oh, it’s probably nothing major.” Pit dismissed me with a wave of his hand, right as a guy who could only be Piono walked through the door, an expression of panic on his face.    
  
They bashed their crowbar against the door, calling everyone’s attention to them.    
  
“So.” They said.   
  
“We need to get out of here right now. We’re not all going to die, but this is the setup for a diabolical killing game that will turn us against each other and force us to fight for a mysterious game master’s entertainment if we don’t band together. Odd are good, though that we can get out if we pool our talents..”    
  
Beat.   
  
“Also, robots.”   
  
Pit turned to me. “See? Everything is going to be completely fine!”

And then chaos broke loose.

Everyone began to run towards whatever looked like an exit. Some crowded around another locked door. Some accidentally ran towards some of the display cases in the room before realizing their mistake. A few stood speechless, trying to not get trampled by the others - much like myself.   
  
A few, however, still panicked yet possessing enough mind to come to an intelligent decision, ran towards the doorway Piono came from. He flinched and ran out of the way, wanting none of that.    
  
However, a guy with red sunglasses soon stood in the way of the rushing students. At first I wanted to scream out for him to move. But-

*THWUMP THWAM FRUMP*   
  
They were all on the ground. Zip-tied like hogs. And standing over them with a bundle of said zip ties was the guy in red sunglasses, with not even a wrinkle out of place. I boggled at the display, for it was so fast my eyes weren’t able to follow it.   
  
The serious looking woman from earlier joins him, grabbing the crowbar from Piono and slamming it hard enough into the doorway to cause the CROWBAR to bend.    
  
“THAT’S ENOUGH!”   
  
With everyone’s attention, the serious woman continued. “Just one person coming in and saying alarming things is enough to cause this? Really? It’s clear we’re all Ultimates, and that means if we’re not the best at what we try to do, then we’re still pretty damn skilled. We should be acting like it.”   
  
As the crowd was cowed by the scolding, the woman’s expression got less cross. She tapped the bent crowbar on the doorframe again to redirect attention.    
  
“That said, we are in alarming circumstances. We’re who knows where, and we can’t even remember our own names. Any information we can get would be useful. Which is why...” She turns to Piono. “I need you to explain to us all what you meant. Now.”   
  
Piono looked ashamed, but he complied. “When I got out, I learned that this door was connected to a hallway. I began to explore, but when I heard the words ‘killing games’ and ‘dead Ultimates’, I told Pit here and went to listen in.”   
  
He took a breath to steady himself before continuing.    
  
“I… I heard the voice coming from a door that was slightly ajar. I peeked in and… And inside was a robot.” Murmurs began to spread through the crowd, but Piono somehow ignored them. “It was about… it went up to my knees. It had strange, half black, half white robes with a strange plus sign symbol on them. It was acting loud and boisterous one moment, then the next it would slump and talk about how much it sucked and start all over again.”   
  
“What did it say, though?” The serious woman asked firmly.    
  
Piono was silent. I noticed he looked very, very exhausted and tired. But also, in his eyes, passionately angry.    
  
“It was a speech greeting us to his ‘Hotel of Despair. ‘You can check-in, but you can never check out. At least, not without a little bit of murder. Can’t be sloppy and get caught though - only the best murderers that get away scot free can get away scot free.’ Word for word. I’d have kicked his butt by now, but I wanted to get you out first.”   
  
“Then you know where there’s an exit, good sir!?” Asked the guy who took down all those people earlier, who had by now let them go since they’ve calmed.   
  
“Only one that isn’t sealed shut or bound in concrete, and it has some serious guns on it. It’s why I wanted us to pool our talents… but that will have to come after we’ve calmed down.”   
  
And that was all there was to it. A couple of students I talked to earlier ducked out to check on things themselves, but I wasn’t too confident on their chances.

After a while, everyone started to calm down a bit, but it was clear tensions were high. After all, who wouldn’t be after finding out what the situation was? We’re trapped here forever? Unless one of us kills and gets away with it? Would anyone among us really be that callous to let use all die here so they can escape? I need to keep my mind off this for now…maybe if I go talk to some more people that’ll do the trick?

I walked up to a kid, who all things considered… looked very plain.

“Yo, my name is Carl, and I’m the Ultimate Lucky Student!” said Carl.

“Huh. Well, you must’ve been lucky to be able to remember an actual name at least. I’m the Ultimate Hypnotist, Crystal. Pleased to make your acquaintance. So your talent is just being lucky?” I said back.

  
Carl nodded. “Yeah, watch.” 

They reached into their pockets and pulled out a coin. “Okay, watch, I’m gonna flip this and get tails.” 

As I watched, he flipped the coin, then caught it. 

“..uh, heads. One more time, I’ll get it this time.” He flipped the coin again, and squinted at it. “..what, no, heads again? Agh!” 

Carl dropped the coin to the floor in anger, where it proceeded to land on its edge. Carl looked down at the coin. So did I. 

“I guess you are lucky after all.” 

Carl looked back up at me and shook his head. “But it still didn’t land on tails!” 

He sighed. “I’m gonna go find someone who has a non-defective coin. It was nice meeting you!.” 

He threw a glare at the coin, which was still balanced on its edge down on the floor, and walked off. After everything that had happened, they seemed a bit unaffected, but maybe they just were trying to hold on to a sense of normalcy?

I wish I could find something to help me find that sense of grounding. I’d ask Pope how to pray for it if I knew it would help.

My ‘prayers’ were ‘answered’ anyway by running into someone who looked normal, yet for some reason...their very presence seemed to unsettle and unnerve me in a way that I could not for the life of me put my finger on

“Hello. I’m... Eph.” Speaks the boy.

“Hi, I’m Crystal, Ultimate Hypnotist.”

There’s a moment of silence. Trying to fill it, I ask for Eph’s talent. They say nothing at first. Worried they missed what I said, I repeat myself.

Then, there’s the echoing, faint giggle that I swear shall haunt my nightmares forevermore. “It doesn’t matter if I tell you. You don’t believe.”

With the confirmation that there is indeed eldritch fuckery, I skedaddled as politely as I can. Still, though, I wonder what exactly their deal is, and why someone so normal is caught up in something clearly so unnerving. I’m wrapped up in my thoughts so hard that I don’t see where I’m going...

  
And literally bump into another person.    
  
“Oof! Sorry! I didn’t mean to-”   
  
“It’s fine.”   
  
The voice brooked no room for argument and held no apology or levity. Even so, the content was comforting. As I looked up, I realized it was the third voice from when I woke up. And the one woman I tried talking to when the first fight broke out. And the woman who calmed down the room after Piono’s initial announcement.   
  
“Oh. Hello.”   
  
“Hello.” She stepped back, the both of us finally separating. “Might want to be more careful. Not everyone will be as fine with this as I am now. Especially under the circumstances.”   
  
I laughed awkwardly, brushing my hair a bit with my fingers. “True. My name’s Crystal.”   
  
“Skaya.” She held out his hand. “Ultimate Hostage Negotiator.”   
  
I shook her hand back. “Wow, that’s as serious as you are-”    
  
I gasped and broke off, putting my hands to my mouth. Skaya simply shook her head, a ghost of a smile dancing across her lips.    
  
“I get that a lot. Hopefully I won’t be needed.” Her expression fell dramatically though. “But… if what we heard earlier was true...”   
  
We both went silent at that. After seeing her expression sink further, I decided to say something.   
  
“Well, at least if it comes down to it, we’ll be all the safer for it knowing you’re here.”   
  
Another ghost smile. “Thanks. I… I think I’ll go make sure no other arguments flare up. Especially at such a delicate moment.”   
  
“Alright. See you around!”   
  
After that encounter, another person bumped into me, a guy with a smile and white hair. They gave me a professional smile, and held out their hand. “Hi! I’m Feather, the Ultimate Matchmaker!”   
  
I stared at them for a second, then shook their hand. “Ultimate Matchmaker as in... shipping? Setting people up together?” I inquired.    
  
“Yes, what else would that mean?”. Feather replied energetically.    
  
“Oh, uh.. That’s cool!” I said. “Uh, have a nice day.”    
  
I waved at Feather and walked around to the edge of the room, wondering what sort of talents these were. Ultimate Shinobi? Ultimate  _ Matchmaker _ ? The former made some sense, but… 

At least it helped finish dispelling my downer feelings, though they were now just replaced with confusion. Getting back to the meet and greet, I looked around to see if there was anyone I missed. That’s about when I heard what sounded like an argument.

“How do we know you’re not behind this, Soup? You won’t reveal your talent, and I’d say that makes you the most suspicious person here.” said a man whose black uniform seemed to fit him oddly.

“Oh, and you aren’t just as suspicious Speed? If you expect us to trust you, maybe stop acting cagey when it comes to your talent, Mr. “Ultimate Graphic Designer”” said the girl who apparently was named Soup.

“Hey! Graphic Designing is a perfectly valid skill! It’s just a coincidence that there aren’t any computers here for me to show it off!” Speed retaliated.    
  
“..You do realize how suspicious that sounds, riight”. Soup laughed.   
  
“Well…” Speed was clearly trying to come up with a quick comeback.. “W-well, what kind of a stupid name is Soup anyway!”   
  
Soup stared coldly at Speed. “Oh, do not go there!”    
  
With a yell, they ran at Speed and delivered a punch to the face...

...Or at least they would’ve had they not been stopped by a man with a very foreboding presence...Oh, it was that guy from earlier!

“STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM, FOR IT IS I, BUILD, THE ULTIMATE SECURITY GUARD.”   
  
A man nearby sighed, and punched Build on the shoulder. “You are not doing the hammy act. We talked about this! Build, of all things, the last thing we need right now-”   
  
“IS SOMEONE ACTING THREATENING, YOU WANT TO SAY, MY GOOD BROTHER SPLIT?” Build’s ‘dazzling’ smile had an undertone of dead seriousness and threat to it. “OF COURSE NOT! SO ONLY THE FINEST QUALITY OF HAM WILL DO TO DISPEL THIS DREARY ATMOSPHERE! HAHAHAHA!”   
  
...I just turned around to look for someone else. All I could say in that weirdo’s defense was that he was not wrong. No one could think he was threatening with that hammy act…   
  
And then I remembered how FAST he was during the panic. It was much easier to see him for the threat he could portray if he really wanted to when I remembered THAT moment.

I went over everyone present. There couldn’t have been many more people left to go… a quick head count confirmed there were only three people left for me to talk to, once all the numbers were subtracted and added up.    
  
So when I saw two people chatting away, I easily approached the group. 

“So, like… unless we’d starve or something, I don’t see any real reason to leave?” Says one of them, casually leaning against an already open locker containing all sorts of tools. “Then again I might be tempted if we got to run the place or couldn’t access the bathroom.”   
  
The other guy laughed. “Maybe. Then again, I’m pretty sure it isn’t that hard to bust out of here. I can think of three different ways right now that we can try once everyone’s not losing their minds.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” I piped up as I approached.   
  
“Oh! Hey there. Wanna join our chat?” Asked the first guy, not having moved an inch.    
  
I held out my hand towards them. “Sure! I’m Crystal, Ultimate Hypnotist!”   
  
“I’m Sirp, Ultimate Programmer.” He simply stuck out his arm and shook, still not moving from his spot.    
  
“And I’m Stock, Ultimate Businessman.” He shook my hand firmly and with a winning smile. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”   
  
“Likewise.” I nodded my head. “So, you were saying we could break out of here easily?”   
  
“Well of course! Between Sirp’s Talent here, Piono’s Disruptor Talent, and Ire’s Strategies, it should be trivial to get out of here! And even if it isn’t, we’re only really in danger of ourselves. I’m sure everything will turn out fine, as long as we keep our heads cool.”

I pursed my lips. “Talent isn’t everything, you know. Even if they are all supposed to be the best of the best, sometimes people just don’t do well under pressure. Not to mention that for us to be trapped here, someone, likely a group of people, would have had to go through an incredible amount of effort just to build or even repurpose all of this to keep us enclosed here.”

  
Sirp’s eyebrow rose slightly. Stock, meanwhile, looked thoughtful.   
  
“So… what? Are you saying that they really can just out-rich us and keep us here?” Asked Sirp.   
  
“It’s not that,” Stock ended up replying. “It’s more about resources, which money IS good at getting. But considering I’m here despite being the Ultimate Businessman, they probably have connections and resources not available to even vast wealth. And if they have those connections… we probably are looking at even greater odds being stacked against us that we simply are not prepared to deal with.”   
  


“Conditionally we could be experiencing a sufficiently advanced paradigm shift from normal metaphysical rules structures and conventional physics sets to achieve a more cohesive narrative node formation along the metanarrative axis.”    
  
All of us as one turned to the newcomer. They seemed… ordinary to look at. But when he opened his mouth again, all ability to see him as anything other than an alien wearing a person shaped suit went flying out the window. The way it flew was not with the finely honed grace of a swan over countless generations of honing, breeding, and elegant and beautiful natural direction, but with all of the abrupt, incomprehensible obtuseness of a rock chucked by a robotic arm on the back of a speeding vehicle.    
  
”I apologize. My… predilection towards evocative and precise lingual lineament often supersedes orthodoxical speech patterns that begets excessive stupefaction.”

His smile, which was as inviting as the warm, pleasant colors of home, looked like a shallow front where the murky oceans and underbellies of greater, more eldritch things roamed, hiding their more sinister, confusing predators. Predators not of living flesh, but of weak and unsuspecting minds, hoping to consume another ignorant soul’s mental weakness for a greater meal. 

“That… seems unnecessarily complex.” I admitted.    
  
He lifts his shoulders in uncaring nonchalance, the weight of the statement and the burden of the loss of caring or understanding of other people sliding off of him. “Perhaps. I am a linguist by trade.”   
  
“...you’re the UItimate Dictionary?” Asked Sirp.

“Not that. I use evocative language arranged in organic rhythms to-”   
  
“You’re a poet!” I exclaim.   
  
“...yes.” The now indelicately revealed Ultimate Poet confirmed with a casual, simple gesture. 

  
Meanwhile, Stock had apparently been busy trying to unravel the intellectually, philosophically distinct paradigms laid out by the unusual wordsmith, for he promptly cut in before I could introduce myself properly.

“Wait, how would us being put into a story even be possible!?” Stock asked, his demeanor not shifting out of that cool, confident businessman persona an inch.   
  
When the interloper began to effuse the air with more esoteric language reminiscent of the writings of madmen and prophets alike, I proceeded to run the hell out of there before my brain could ACTUALLY turn to mush and proceed to help Nedben out of here by being his first victim.   
  


And then… huh. That was right. I had talked to everyone.Or, rather, learned a bit about everyone.

I feel both a little accomplished and a little silly for following that idea through. Especially since, looking around, I think most people gave up long before I did.

There was the sound of the crowbar being banged against the locker it came from, and everyone gathered up. It seemed that Piono, Pope, and Skaya had gathered everyone together to say something. Probably they had come up with an escape plan.

We’d never get to hear it. The voice of our oppressor speaking up behind us cut off that hope.

“Well Well Well! I leave you all alone for 2 hours, and you destroy a door and get organized.”

Everyone turned around. The Robot was… shorter than I imagined, but its round, smooth head and glowing, electronic right eye made it exceedingly clear that Piono had told the truth. Some people began to lock or freeze up. 

“This makes you all perfect little subjects for our killing game, Pr-”

“FUCK YOU!” Shouted several people at once. Among them was that asshole AC, Piono (although he said “Screw You” instead), and, apparently surprising himself, Alastair. 

“We aren’t going to kill each other for your messed up killing game,” Someone snapped from the crowd, holding the now forgotten crowbar.

“...wait, literally how-”

“Piono overheard everything! The jig is up, and we’re going to take you down! And besides...” AC spat some blood out of his mouth. “I took things out on the wrong people earlier. Might as well get it right this time.”   
  
AC followed up with a running leap. It wasn’t physically as impressive as anything Build did, but the courage needed to actually just go for it and attack the robot-

My eyes widened and I screamed.

“AC, WATCH OUT!”   
  
But apparently, he didn’t hear the rapid, increasing beeping sound - the same kind associated with bombs! And as AC’s strike came down on the bastard, so too did the sound reach its fever pitch.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this!  
If you wanna join the discord server for this, here’s the link: https://discord.gg/rQAZYmr


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